Advent

Advent, December 20th

by

Miracles occur when the Lord makes the “impossible” happen. In today’s Gospel Mary’s just been told, by an angel, that she was meant to fulfill the prophecy made by Isaiah in today’s First Reading, a prophecy even she considered impossible: that a virgin would conceive and bear a son. She’d decided to remain celibate in order to show her complete love for the Lord alone, and now Gabriel was telling her the Lord had other plans. When you’re confused about what God is asking of you, or how things will turn out, it’s okay to ask him in prayer how he wants the “impossible” to become possible.

Mary asked and discovered that miraculously both her plans and the Lord’s would blend into one. She she would have a vocation to love that respected how she wanted to love the Lord, yet went beyond the opportunities most people would have: she would be able to love the Lord as virgin, as his mother, and through being a good wife to Joseph.

Sometimes in life we face obstacles in moving forward. Our Lord may not always intervene miraculously, but in prayer he always shows us the way, and, eventually, the way forward becomes clear and seemingly insurmountable obstacles disappear. Don’t be afraid of taking time out at times in prayer to ask Our Lord how he’d like you to move forward. With his help you may not find the way forward a difficult as you thought.

Readings: Isaiah 7:10–14; Psalm 24:1–6; Luke 1:26–38. See also Annunciation of the Lord and Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception.

4th Sunday of Advent, Cycle A

by

As the saying goes, it is always darkest before the dawn, but the dawn also represents the light growing brighter and brighter. This Sunday the light of the Advent wreath is full because we are close to the dawn of our salvation through the birth of Our Lord: God will soon visibly be with us after nine months in his mother’s womb.

In today’s First Reading Isaiah makes a prophecy that a a virgin will conceive and bear a son named Emmanuel (“God is with us”). Matthew in today’s Gospel shows that prophecy fulfilled in Jesus, and also the source of Joseph’s confusion and dilemma: Mary’s fidelity to the marriage agreement their families had already made was called into question. Was the engagement off? Joseph was leaning in that direction when the angel helped him see the path forward: this was all part of God’s plan.

Joseph went from quietly considering his options to experiencing a revelation in the fog of a dream. Big, life-impacting decisions often go beyond our mental calculus, beyond reassuring certainties: things get fuzzy and foggy. Big decisions imply risk. We can either decide in fear and uncertainty or in faith and trust in Our Lord.

Advent is almost over. Has the Lord sent any angels to you? Christmas break and the impending New Year is a good time for making decisions in faith. God is with you.

Readings: Isaiah 7:10–14; Psalm 24:1–6; Romans 1:1–7; Matthew 1:18–24. See also Saint Joseph, Husband of Mary, Advent, December 18th, and Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

3rd Week of Advent, Friday

by

In today’s Gospel Our Lord warns the incredulous Scribes and Pharisees that if John was a lamp meant to light the way, Our Lord is a sun. As Advent winds to a close John’s mission draws to a conclusion and Our Lord’s is about to begin, and his phase of salvation history is a quantum leap, because he is its culmination.

Today’s First Reading reminds us that if we want Our Lord’s arrival to be a blessing it requires something on our part. It requires that we live uprightly. In Isaiah that is described in terms of religious observance, but the situation in today’s Gospel reminds us that religious observance can be severed from charity and living an upright life. In those sad circumstances it becomes empty and pointless. Advent is a penitential time to prepare for the Messiah’s birth; it is a moment for conversion, for turning our hearts back to the Lord, remembering that he never turns in heart away from us.

The difference between empty observance and fervent devotion is love we put into our relationship with Christ. Let’s not just put Christ back into Christmas, but our love for him back into it as well.

Readings: Isaiah 56:1–3a, 6–8; Psalm 67:2–8; John 5:33–36. See also 4th Week of Lent, Thursday.

3rd Week of Advent, Thursday

by

In today’s Gospel Our Lord identifies John using the prophecy of Malachi: “Behold, I send my messenger to prepare the way before me, and the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple; the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight, behold, he is coming, says the LORD of hosts” (Malachi 3:1). This prophecy epitomizes the season of Advent: today Our Lord tells his listeners that John is, in fact, the messenger who’d come to prepare the way for him. That makes him more than a prophet; he is the prophet who would prepare for the Messiah’s coming. John was conceived in Elizabeth’s womb only a few months before Our Lord was conceived in Mary’s. In the Feast of the Presentation we remember when the Lord came “suddenly” to his temple: a baby coming for circumcision. John’s mission began from the moment of conception, just as Our Lord’s did.

Today’s First Reading from Isaiah captures the joy of a new arrival due in the family. It’s time to make room. Yet Isaiah’s imagery doesn’t stop there: the arrival of a newborn is a sign of reconciliation in his family. Some estrangement between husband (the Lord) and wife (the People of Israel) has ended, and love has reunited them and born fruit in new children. Through Baptism we were reborn as sons and daughters of God, the fruit of the reconciliation between the Lord and his beloved People through the mediation of his Son.

Most of us don’t remember the day of our Baptism, but, like John and Our Lord, our mission as Christians began that day too. It’s no coincidence that the octave of Christmas ends on New Year’s Day: it’s never to late to renew our desire to understand the Lord’s will for our lives and take up the mission he has prepared for us.

Readings: Isaiah 54:1–10; Psalm 30:2, 4–6, 11–12a, 13b; Luke 7:12–30.

 

3rd Sunday of Advent (Gaudete Sunday), Cycle A

by

Advent represents all of salvation history leading up to the Incarnation of Our Lord, and sometimes we lose sight of the fact that after the Fall the world was a harsh and unforgiving spiritual desert for a long time. Generations of prophets encouraged, harangued, explained, and warned God’s chosen people, and other than a faithful remnant the appeals on the Lord’s behalf fell on deaf ears. In today’s First Reading Isaiah paints the coming of the Lord as dried and arid land coming into full bloom, of people withered by poor health being restored, and of the pain of injustice being addressed and lifted.

John described himself as a voice crying out in the desert; in today’s Second Reading Paul describes the prophets as suffering hardship and showing heroic patience, waiting for their fruits of their work to be seen. John’s in the dungeon this Sunday and he’s waiting for some sign of the “precious fruit of the earth” Paul describes. In Our Lord’s works John sees something starting to sprout, and Our Lord tells him through his disciples that there are signs of new life coming into bloom in order to help him persevere in faith and hope.

In today’s Gospel, once Our Lord sends a response to John, he tells his listeners that the least in the Kingdom of Heaven is greater than John. We’re preparing during this Advent to commemorate at Christmas when the first shoots of new life began to appear, hidden in a cave at Bethlehem, that would blossom into salvation through our Messiah. We can still live in a spiritual desert, but that’s because we don’t let the Gospel bloom in our hearts. Let’s not make John’s work or Our Lord’s be in vain in our lives. Let’s start patiently sowing his Word in our hearts, watering it through prayer and the sacraments, and not giving into discouragement when the fruits seem long in coming. John didn’t see the fruits of his labors sprouting until the end of his mission; at Advent’s conclusion we too can see something beautiful bloom, if we keep at it.

Readings: Isaiah 35:1–6a, 10; Psalm 146:6–10; James 5:7–10; Matthew 11:2–11. See also 2nd Week of Advent, Thursday and 3rd Week of Advent, Wednesday.